Accidental Fiancé

23: Fallout

A/N: Just to clarify-Heather meant 'there is no match as far as you're concerned. You're not going.'

Twenty Three: Fallout.

"What-what do you mean?" Hiccup stammered, his eyes wide with shock at the blunt words.

"You are not going to the match," Heather told him flatly. "Astrid doesn't need the distraction-and currently, you are a distraction. The paps will be hovering like flies around you, wanting to snatch a picture of the most hated man in the Archipelago."

"But it's not true!" he protested, glaring at her. "None of it's true!"

"Hiccup-there are people out there who believe all publicity is good publicity," Heather replied sipping her coffee and peering at her phone, wincing at the torrent of emails pinging into her inbox. "But that isn't true when you want to promote a positive image and have some woman claiming you've stole her husband and that she is left jilted and pregnant."

"And it's not true!" Hiccup protested. "Look, get your lawyer to look into it. She's not pregnant. Or if she us, it certainly isn't mine. I mean we haven't for ages! And we were NEVER engaged. If I can speak to Astrid..."

"NO!" Heather snapped. "You stay away from her. She doesn't need any distractions. We can discuss this when she gets back..."

"But I promised her I would come," Hiccup argued. "And I don't want her to think that I..."

"No," Heather snarled. "Enough. You stay here and don't put her off. I will explain to her-when she's done. And then we can try and sort out this unholy mess..."

"But..."

"No, Hiccup-you stay here. You've caused enough trouble." And with that, she left, slamming the door and leaving the auburn-haired man watching her, feeling as if he had had the breath punched out of him.

"Wow. I knew she didn't like me but that was harsh," he said sarcastically, looking at Toothless, who was neatly licking a back paw. "And fat lot of use you were, bud. Why couldn't you have tripped her up?" The cat meowed plaintively and the young man sighed, walking over the scoop the warm body in his arms. "Yeah, I know," he sighed. "She would still have hated us."

Toothless looked deep into his eyes, then raised a paw and gently rested it against Hiccup's cheek.

"Thanks, bud," he said despondently. "I mean, I'm only here to act as a puppet to make her look good, aren't I? I don't matter-that seems pretty obvious. And whether it's Bella telling me how worthless I am or Heather calling me a distraction and a troublemaker, I just can't win." His shoulders slumped. "Gods-what will she tell Astrid? She'll tell her to dump me, bud-and honestly, why would she carry on this-this pretence? I mean, what do I bring except the lie that makes them money...and when I start to be a liability, it'll be 'Bye bye, Hiccup, thanks for everything but get lost!' And that will just...well, it will be the end."

Toothless purred and rubbed against his face, chirping gently as Hiccup slumped onto the couch.

"I know-I'll still have you but...nothing else," he breathed. Struggling suddenly, the cat jumped from his arms and walked proudly across the couch, his tail up before he bounced onto the shelves and patted a framed photograph. Lunging forward, Hiccup automatically caught it and stared at the image of his group of friends at school-with Astrid stuck by his side. And quietly, he raised a couple of fingers to his lips and recalled what had happened since-loss and reconnection and all those little moments that his heart had told him was real, despite the words of Heather and Bella and his own wrecked confidence.

"It was real," he murmured. "It is real. And I promised."

Carefully, he placed the photograph on the table and nodded.